Device for drying semiconductor substrates

ABSTRACT

A device is for drying disc-shaped substrates. The device has an elongated body, which tapers upwards to form a wedge having an angle α between two surfaces and an upper edge. The upper edge is suitable for holding the disc-shaped substrates. The two surfaces have more than one hole, each forming channels, which extend to a lower drainage part of the elongated body.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a U.S. National Phase application under 35 U.S.C. §371 of International Application No. PCT/EP2020/083659, filed on Nov.27, 2020, and claims benefit to European Patent Application No. EP19217351 6, filed on Dec. 18, 2019. The International Application waspublished in English on Jun. 24, 2021 as WO 2021/121903 A1 under PCTArticle 21(2).

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a device for use in drying disc-shapedsemiconductor substrates.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to a method that may be used, forexample, in the manufacture of electric circuits on all kinds ofsubstrates, such as, for example, integrated circuits on semiconductorwafers (for example of silicon), drives for liquid crystal displays ontransparent plates of glass or quartz or circuits on plates of syntheticmaterial (circuit boards). The method may also be used in themanufacture of shadow masks for television picture tubes or in themanufacture of CD or VLP records. In all these cases, the substrates areimmersed many times for some time in a bath containing a liquid, forexample in galvanic baths for deposition of metals, in etching baths foretching patterns into metal layers or into semiconductor material, indevelopment baths for developing exposed photo lacquer layers and inrinsing baths for cleaning the substrates. After treatment in the liquidbaths, the substrates are taken from the liquid and are dried. Thesubstrates can be taken from the liquid in that they are lifted orwithdrawn from the liquid, but of course also in that the liquid iscaused to flow out of the bath.

While being taken from the bath, the semiconductor wafer resides on adevice that is used to hold the semiconductor wafer in place. Duringthis process, a problem can arise that residues of liquid remain at theedge of the substrate. This can lead to unwanted particles on the edgeof the substrate, which are later on affecting the quality of thesemiconductor wafer.

The physical effect utilized thereby are described in CN1045539 A (EP 03855 36 A1), as is an apparatus which is to some extent suitable forconduction of the method.

A device and a method to improve the quality of cleaning in respect toremaining particles of the semiconductor wafer is given in DE 10 2014207 266 A1. However, using this there are still particles left thatreduce the quality of the semiconductor wafers.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment, the present disclosure provides a device that is fordrying disc-shaped substrates. The device has an elongated body, whichtapers upwards to form a wedge having an angle a between two surfacesand an upper edge. The upper edge is suitable for holding thedisc-shaped substrates. The two surfaces have more than one hole, eachforming channels, which extend to a lower drainage part of the elongatedbody.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Subject matter of the present disclosure will be described in evengreater detail below based on the exemplary figures. All featuresdescribed and/or illustrated herein can be used alone or combined indifferent combinations. The features and advantages of variousembodiments will become apparent by reading the following detaileddescription with reference to the attached drawings, which illustratethe following:

FIG. 1 illustrates a device (disc holder) according to an aspect of thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to a device being used to treatsemiconductor wafers, in which the latter are immersed for some time ina bath containing a liquid and are then taken therefrom so slowly thatpractically the whole quantity of liquid remains in the bath.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide improvements to such a device,and more reduce the number of particles, which are found on the driedsubstrates.

The device comprises an elongated body (1), which tapers upwards to forma wedge (A) having an angle a between two surfaces and an upper edge.The upper edge is suitable for the disc-shaped substrates to rest on.Preferably, the two surfaces of the wedge comprise more than one holes(2) each forming channels, which extend to a lower drainage part (B) ofthe elongated body. The holes are placed in that way that the upper edgeis not interrupted by the holes.

Preferably, the angle a between the two surfaces is larger than 30° andsmaller than 90°. More preferably, it is smaller than 70° and largerthan 50°.

Preferably, the material used for the device comprises ceramic filledpolyetheretherketone (CFM PEEK).

Preferably, the upper edge has a curvature radius of more than 0.1 mmand less than 1 mm, more preferably more than 0.1 mm and less than 0.4mm.

Preferably, the two surfaces are hydrophobic.

Preferably, the channels have a diameter more than 0.5 mm and less than3 mm.

Preferably, the drainage part (B) comprises a channel having a diametermore than 3 mm and less than 8 mm.

Preferably, the drainage part (B) has a length (L2) of more than 20 mmand less than 26 mm.

Preferably, the wedge (A) has a height (L1) of more than 4 mm and lessthan 10 mm.

While subject matter of the present disclosure has been illustrated anddescribed in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, suchillustration and description are to be considered illustrative orexemplary and not restrictive. Any statement made herein characterizingthe invention is also to be considered illustrative or exemplary and notrestrictive as the invention is defined by the claims. It will beunderstood that changes and modifications may be made, by those ofordinary skill in the art, within the scope of the following claims,which may include any combination of features from different embodimentsdescribed above.

The terms used in the claims should be construed to have the broadestreasonable interpretation consistent with the foregoing description. Forexample, the use of the article “a” or “the” in introducing an elementshould not be interpreted as being exclusive of a plurality of elements.Likewise, the recitation of “or” should be interpreted as beinginclusive, such that the recitation of “A or B” is not exclusive of “Aand B,” unless it is clear from the context or the foregoing descriptionthat only one of A and B is intended. Further, the recitation of “atleast one of A, B and C” should be interpreted as one or more of a groupof elements consisting of A, B and C, and should not be interpreted asrequiring at least one of each of the listed elements A, B and C,regardless of whether A, B and C are related as categories or otherwise.Moreover, the recitation of “A, B and/or C” or “at least one of A, B orC” should be interpreted as including any singular entity from thelisted elements, e.g., A, any subset from the listed elements, e.g., Aand B, or the entire list of elements A, B and C.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   A Wedge region of the elongated body-   B Drainage part of the elongated body-   L1 Height of the wedge formed on top of the elongated body-   L2 Height of the drainage part-   1 Elongated body-   2 Hole(s)-   α Opening angle of the wedge, angle between two surfaces and an    upper edge

1. A device for drying disc-shaped substrates, the device comprising: an elongated body, which tapers upwards to form a wedge having an angle a between two surfaces and an upper edge, wherein the upper edge is suitable for holding the disc-shaped substrates, and wherein the two surfaces comprise more than one hole each forming channels, which extend to a lower drainage part of the elongated body.
 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the angle a is larger than 30° and smaller than 90°.
 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device comprises ceramic filled polyetheretherketone (CFM PEEK).
 4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the upper edge has a curvature radius of more than 0.1 mm and less than 1 mm.
 5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the channels have a diameter more than 0.5 mm and less than 3 mm.
 6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the drainage part comprises a channel having a diameter more than 3 mm and less than 8 mm.
 7. The device according to claim 1, wherein the drainage part has a length of more than 20 mm and less than 26 mm.
 8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the wedge has a height of more than 4 mm and less than 10 mm.
 9. The device according to claim 1, wherein the angle α is larger than 50° and smaller than 70°. 